Pawn shop owner caught fencing stolen merchandise heads to prison

A Wyandotte man will spend at least two years in prison in a retail fraud scheme that prosecutors say involved selling merchandise stolen from big box stores, including ones in Canton Township.

Antony P. Wojtala was sentenced this month by Wayne County Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas to between two and seven years in prison on a charge of using a computer to commit a crime. He was also given two sentences of one to five years each, for charges of organized retail crime, but those are to run concurrently with the longer sentence.

Wojtala had pleaded no contest to all three charges in September. In return, 19 other charges, including one count of conducting a criminal enterprise and multiple counts of receiving and conceal stolen property, were dismissed.

He was also ordered to close his Tony's Pawn Shop and pay $6,550 in restitution. Maria Miller, spokeswoman for County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said Wojtala has paid the restitution.

Wojtala, who will turn 26 later this month, was charged in July after Canton police executed a search warrant at his store on Fort Street in Wyandotte. He was accused of selling stolen merchandise from that shop and from his home.